Tag: Kristen Lamb

Research Matters: The Devil is Always in the Details

Research can be a double-edged sword. It can elevate writing to an entirely new level, but can also be a place we hide, procrastination masked as ‘work.’ Recently, I posted on the dangers of premature editing and gave tips to help keep us moving forward on that first draft until it is FINISHED. A common …

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Hook Your Readers: 3 Tips to Catch & Keep Your Audience

How do we sell our stories? That is the big question. It is the reason for craft classes and editing and cover design and agents and editors and all the time on social media. And while platforms and covers and algorithms do matter, there is one tried and true way to sell more books. Write …

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Branding & The Brain: How Social Media Changes but Humans Never Will

Branding is a word that seems to have one day—POOF—appeared out of the ether. In fact, when I began blogging in 2006 almost no one in publishing used the term. The rare few who did were hard-pressed to properly/clearly define what a ‘brand’ was. In fact, many authorities believed authors didn’t need to be bothered …

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Diagnosing a REAL Writer: Do You Have Terminological Inexactitude Syndrome?

Being a writer is the best job in the world, aside from those fortunate enough to be paid to pet kittens or sample new ice cream flavors. But is writing a REAL job? This question has set fire to the entire psychiatric community. Okay, most of them…the ones in my head *turns off fire alarms*. …

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The Dangers of Premature Editing: Pruning Our Stories vs. Pillaging Them

Editing is essential for crafting a superlative story. We clip away the excess, delete the superfluous and prune away the detritus to reveal the art. Yet, editing is something we’re wise to handle with care. While lack of ANY editing is a major problem today, editing too much, too soon is just as big of …

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